Quirky Habit or Sign of OCD? Get the Facts..

Anderson Team



Is your daily routine a quirky habit or a sign of OCD?Dr. Jennifer O'Connorshares her list of common OCD symptoms:

Dr. Jennifer O'Connor: OCD involves the experience of unwanted and highly distressing thoughts that come into a person's mind over and over again, despite persistent efforts to push the thoughts away.

Common Obsessions in OCD Include:

1. Fears of contamination from contact with germs, bodily fluids, or environment contaminants
(i.e., fear of contracting a horrible disease from using a public restroom).

2. Fears of acting on unwanted impulses
(i.e., urge to stab oneself or others with a knife)

3. Fears of being responsible for bad things happening
(i.e., burglary or fire)

4. Unwanted sexual thoughts and impulses
(i.e., thoughts about aggressive or forbidden sexual behavior)

5. Thoughts about offending God or violating moral standards
(i.e., intense concerns about blasphemy)

6. Need for exactness or evenness
(i.e., need for objects to be placed in a precise way)

7. Superstitious ideas/beliefs
(i.e., belief that there are good and bad numbers and bad numbers can cause bad things to happen)

8. Fears of having an illness or disease
(i.e., fears of having cancer even in the absence of signs or symptoms)


OCD also involves the presence of compulsions. See Jennifer's list of compulsions.

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